Or you could end up like me, the "grown up" in the room, directing the testosterone and creativity of a lot of bright and energetic young guys down useful paths. They're all terribly smart, which keeps my brain agile just in self defense. I figure that the jobs for which I wouldn't be considered due to my age are probably unsuitable jobs for me anyway. 
I am very serious about how different people hear reproduced music. Some can tolerate a lot, AND not hear too much difference in components, and others are very sensitive, almost to the point of being obsessive.
It does NOT appear to be how well you measure in a hearing test. It is something more about how the brain processes what the ears pick up. Many, many people, including doctors, lawyers, etc can be VERY sensitive to audio component differences. Others, like many professors of mathematics, etc, seem to not hear any significant differences at all, and are bound and determined to PROVE that nobody else can hear differences either. That is where we stand today.
It does NOT appear to be how well you measure in a hearing test. It is something more about how the brain processes what the ears pick up. Many, many people, including doctors, lawyers, etc can be VERY sensitive to audio component differences. Others, like many professors of mathematics, etc, seem to not hear any significant differences at all, and are bound and determined to PROVE that nobody else can hear differences either. That is where we stand today.
Lawyers need good hearing so they can detect the presence of small folded pieces of paper in leather pouches, with a view to moving them closer to home.
I wasn't aware that professors of mathematics are so active in the audio field. They usually seem interested in proving much more esoteric things than failure to hear differences in hi-fi.
I wasn't aware that professors of mathematics are so active in the audio field. They usually seem interested in proving much more esoteric things than failure to hear differences in hi-fi.
Morinix, keep the 'faith'. Some of the best repair techs are irreplaceable. I learned repair of tube audio equipment back in 1965 having a part time job as an audio tech, and I learned under a guy a few years older than me. We are still friends, and he still works, now at Meyersound, as John Meyer was another 'apprentice' and he never forgot.
I ALWAYS brought my repairs to him, when he did repairs. He was fast, intuitive, and much better than I could at this. Once, I had to get a custom power amp ready for CES, AND it always blew up on turn on. I racked my brain, and finally brought him over. From inspection, he noted that the Darlington driver transistors did NOT have any insulating spacers from the heatsink that they were attached to. Saved the day. He also reminded me of using a series lightbulb and a variac to bring a defective unit up so that the source of the problem might be located.
I ALWAYS brought my repairs to him, when he did repairs. He was fast, intuitive, and much better than I could at this. Once, I had to get a custom power amp ready for CES, AND it always blew up on turn on. I racked my brain, and finally brought him over. From inspection, he noted that the Darlington driver transistors did NOT have any insulating spacers from the heatsink that they were attached to. Saved the day. He also reminded me of using a series lightbulb and a variac to bring a defective unit up so that the source of the problem might be located.
There's at least one professor of mathematics who comes to mind that has spent a great deal of time and careful study distinguishing what people can actually hear from what marketeers claim people can hear. Not surprisingly, when the testing gets to "ears only," he seems to manage to hear things that elude the Golden Ear boys and girls and has demonstrated that humans have remarkable capabilities to detect things like phase, frequency response, level, noise... Also not surprisingly, since his testing does not show audibility of what John is selling, his work is dismissed by John as "showing that nobody hears differences" and much woffle (thanks for that word!) about left brains and such.
I have examples of a different story, how the same people have very different "hearing" before they heard potential possibilities of sound reproduction, and after. They can't tolerate anymore what they thought sounded quite good. And it is context-dependent. Like, my wife can't anymore tolerate stock hi-fi, or TV, or boombox, in the living room, but she continued tolerating car radio until got a new car with Bose speakers.
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